CowHen

Most recent activity

• FS Continental Cross Kings 700x35c

  in Components and clothing • 11 months, 3 weeks

  

  Hiya, I’ll probably take these for when my current set run out of life. Will PM.

• Ultracycling

  in Rides & Races • 1 year, 1 month

  

  I had moderate success with my diy ‘rinko-lite’ setup on the tgv. Just had to take deraileur and wheels off and strap them either side of the frame, much easier with big tires as they hold the rims away from the frame. Also had full frame bag, saddlebag and bar bag left on the bike, took about 15 minutes to disassemble at the station, still rather stressful though. Fits on the luggage rack as long as you can get it to yourself.

• Ultracycling

  in Rides & Races • 1 year, 1 month

  

  Late reply to this, but if you’re considering staying overnight at dover for this then why not try the Eurotunnel bike service (disclaimer: not actually tried it myself, the minibus only has ~6places and was full when I tried to book it to get to Corsica overland in September). Gets you to Calais tgv station in an hour, rather than the many many hours of ferry limbo, costs less than a bike on the Eurostar too. I think the bike has to be assembled however, so you’d be rinko’ing it in Calais.

  https://www.eurotunnel.com/uk/travelling-with-us/vehicles/bicycles/

• Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

  in General • 1 year, 1 month

  

  Well I hope the image made up for being held up a bit! Having run every other time, I thought it would be worth giving in to the peer pressure for the final lap. I was not disappointed.

• Cyclocross - CX and SSCX races and training

  in General • 1 year, 1 month

  

  Stunning amounts of mud, great fun.

  If anyone has footage of me decking it on the hurdles in the beer tent, dressed as a spider, please do share it.

• Delete

  in Components and clothing • 1 year, 3 months

  

  Restrap Frame bag please! Pm coming

• Japan Tour 2023

  in Current Projects • 1 year, 3 months

  

  All of your touring learnings resonate with my experiences, except for:

  Dry bags seem a bit overrated, I would like more stuff sacks

  Get more stuff sacks for sure, but drybags are gold dust for the days when the forecast lies and it rains all day (north coast 500 being the case in point). Especially when camping, keeping stuff vaguely dry for multiple days seems to require a lot of focus and strict storage rules. Having multiple drybags is good for keeping the ‘dry’ stuff separate from the ‘slightly damp’ separate from the ‘beyond hope’.

• Rad-ndo bikes

  in Current Projects • 1 year, 3 months

  

  I have done it in the past with 80l black bin bags, usually need about 4-5 of them to cover everything and carry the bags too. Has never been particularly easy to carry, but is ok if you can wrangle your way to the platform with the bike intact.

  I’m planning on making a rinko bag out of the lightest rip stop I can find, doesn’t need to be super durable as I’d only really use it for getting around the tgv problem on trips to France.

• Paris Brest Paris (PBP) 2023

  in Rides & Races • 1 year, 4 months

  

  Aha, I should check this more often! Ended up turning around pretty quick at the finish, once it started raining… Hope you guys managed to soak up the atmosphere without having to worry about the whole bike-riding distraction!

  Also great to run into @Ruserius at the spectacular Villaines control, that place really embodied the good vibes of the whole event. Obviously the chaos and challenge of the ride was fun to experience, but I reckon volunteering is where it’s at. Or just following the party from town to town.

  All my photos seem to be of food and tired people, couldn’t capture all of the roadside support and passed-out riders sadly, but there was a lot of that.

• Paris Brest Paris (PBP) 2023

  in Rides & Races • 1 year, 4 months

  

  The French really do excel at beige food, I’m running out of capacity for bread and pasta and butter (never thought I’d see the day).